Saint Louis is known across the country for its abnormally high murder rates. I have love for my community because of who I have become from what I have faced here, but I hate that this city has taken everything from me. This city has taken my brother, my friends, my happiness, my sense of security. This city has turned me into a person who constantly keeps one eye open just to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the streets. My community has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably should not have been exposed to in just 17 short years of life, but I am grateful for the exposure and the lessons that I’ve learned simply by being from Saint Louis. I know where I come from within the city limits of Saint Louis, and I know that I definitely want to leave this life behind and never look back. Hopefully, attending a university that I worked so hard to be in, particularly Spelman College, will allow me a fresh start using all of my past experiences to create a better future for myself and the people in my community. I am going because I don’t want to remember my hometown as the place that has taken everything from me, but I want to remember Saint Louis as the place that I was able to reconstruct into a real community instead of just a “city limit”. I want to achieve greatness. I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

My life has changed drastically in the last six months. As if getting ready to embark on my senior year of high school was not difficult enough, I was stricken with tragic news that my brother was shot and killed while driving a car. This tragedy forced my entire life into a standstill as I suffered from severe paranoia and anxiety about driving and unimaginable grief, but I quickly learned that time waits for no one. On August 8, when my brother died, I was in the middle of applying for colleges, applying for grants, and writing scholarship essays. I felt that the process of preparing for senior year endeavors was more than enough pressure than I could handle at the time only for what I felt was a wrecking ball to be thrown at me. This life-altering experience has changed me in so many ways. It has taught me that even through times of adversity, giving up is never an option. The experience of losing a sibling has allowed me to focus on doing all of the things that I promised my brother that I would do while he was here. This experience has increased my work ethic, and pushed me over limits I did not know I could withstand through such a big loss. The experience of losing my brother has broken me to strengthen me again. As I work on the healing portion of my life, I will continue to use the experience that changed my life so drastically to shepherd my success. I will use the experience to guide me in helping others to heal, especially my family. Losing my brother continues to show me that I am resilient, that I can overcome adversity and come out stronger than I was before, and that I will always be pushed to take 1,000 steps forward after being pushed 100 steps backward.

I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

Saint Louis is known across the country for its abnormally high murder rates. I have love for my community because of who I have become from what I have faced here, but I hate that this city has taken everything from me. This city has taken my brother, my friends, my happiness, my sense of security. This city has turned me into a person who constantly keeps one eye open just to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the streets. My community has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably should not have been exposed to in just 17 short years of life, but I am grateful for the exposure and the lessons that I’ve learned simply by being from Saint Louis. I know where I come from within the city limits of Saint Louis, and I know that I definitely want to leave this life behind and never look back. Hopefully, attending a university that I worked so hard to be in, particularly Spelman College, will allow me a fresh start using all of my past experiences to create a better future for myself and the people in my community. From my experience, I hope to return to my hometown and shape other youth who are just trying to get out and seek a better future into young doctors and nurses who can apply their skills to make Saint Louis a place worth living in again. I know that when I attend a higher education institution, I am going because I don’t want to remember my hometown as the place that has taken everything from me, but I want to remember Saint Louis as the place that I was able to reconstruct into a real community instead of just a “city limit”. I want to achieve greatness. I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

Saint Louis is known across the country for its abnormally high murder rates. I have love for my community because of who I have become from what I have faced here, but I hate that this city has taken everything from me. This city has taken my brother, my friends, my happiness, my sense of security. This city has turned me into a person who constantly keeps one eye open just to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the streets. My community has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably should not have been exposed to in just 17 short years of life, but I am grateful for the exposure and the lessons that I’ve learned simply by being from Saint Louis. I know where I come from within the city limits of Saint Louis, and I know that I definitely want to leave this life behind and never look back. Hopefully, attending a university that I worked so hard to be in, particularly Spelman College, will allow me a fresh start using all of my past experiences to create a better future for myself and the people in my community. From my experience, I hope to return to my hometown and shape other youth who are just trying to get out and seek a better future into young doctors and nurses who can apply their skills to make Saint Louis a place worth living in again. I know that when I attend a higher education institution, I am going because I don’t want to remember my hometown as the place that has taken everything from me, but I want to remember Saint Louis as the place that I was able to reconstruct into a real community instead of just a “city limit”. I want to achieve greatness. I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

Saint Louis is known across the country for its abnormally high murder rates. I have love for my community because of who I have become from what I have faced here, but I hate that this city has taken everything from me. This city has taken my brother, my friends, my happiness, my sense of security. This city has turned me into a person who constantly keeps one eye open just to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the streets. My community has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably should not have been exposed to in just 17 short years of life, but I am grateful for the exposure and the lessons that I’ve learned simply by being from Saint Louis. I know where I come from within the city limits of Saint Louis, and I know that I definitely want to leave this life behind and never look back. Hopefully, attending a university that I worked so hard to be in, particularly Spelman College, will allow me a fresh start using all of my past experiences to create a better future for myself and the people in my community. From my experience, I hope to return to my hometown and shape other youth who are just trying to get out and seek a better future into young doctors and nurses who can apply their skills to make Saint Louis a place worth living in again. I know that when I attend a higher education institution, I am going because I don’t want to remember my hometown as the place that has taken everything from me, but I want to remember Saint Louis as the place that I was able to reconstruct into a real community instead of just a “city limit”. I want to achieve greatness. I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

Saint Louis is known across the country for its abnormally high murder rates. I have love for my community because of who I have become from what I have faced here, but I hate that this city has taken everything from me. This city has taken my brother, my friends, my happiness, my sense of security. This city has turned me into a person who constantly keeps one eye open just to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the streets. My community has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably should not have been exposed to in just 17 short years of life, but I am grateful for the exposure and the lessons that I’ve learned simply by being from Saint Louis. I know where I come from within the city limits of Saint Louis, and I know that I definitely want to leave this life behind and never look back. Hopefully, attending a university that I worked so hard to be in, particularly Spelman College, will allow me a fresh start using all of my past experiences to create a better future for myself and the people in my community. From my experience, I hope to return to my hometown and shape other youth who are just trying to get out and seek a better future into young doctors and nurses who can apply their skills to make Saint Louis a place worth living in again. I know that when I attend a higher education institution, I am going because I don’t want to remember my hometown as the place that has taken everything from me, but I want to remember Saint Louis as the place that I was able to reconstruct into a real community instead of just a “city limit”. I want to achieve greatness. I want to be able to achieve greatness so others can too. After going through undergraduate studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I will continue on in my medical studies at Morehouse School of Medicine also based in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, I hope to conduct an adequate amount of research to help me begin the journey of providing better healthcare and medical practices in the African American community. I will then become invested in my medical practices, and I will apply everything that I have learned to the hospitals in St. Louis to better care for our black men, women, and children. As I am preparing to graduate high school, I have worked to remain at the top of my graduating class as Senior Class President and Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. I have already invested into programs and studies to begin my career path in medicine by participating in Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Saturday Scholars Program, taking advantage of shadow opportunities at the local hospitals, and taking the necessary courses in science and math with college credit to help me further prepare for the next step in my career. Ultimately, I hope to be able to reform the healthcare system for black people across the United States and eventually open my own non-profit medical clinic both in my home country of Senegal and in my hometown of St. Louis.

My family is a complicated bunch. If I’m being totally honest, I am not even sure if my parents are still a married couple. They just live together. Growing up, it has always been common knowledge that my mother is a single parent, yet every few years, my father comes back to live with us and bounces back to his other family when he is ready. He and my mother live together now, but they don’t speak. They are more like roommates. My mother has always been the provider of the family, something that I learned was not a norm in my elementary school years. I watched my mother struggle to care for five children, and we all watched our father watch her. When my father missed out on our lives, he missed out on raising the boys into promising young men. One followed the wrong path into the street life to make money and help my mother, while the other found his escape in sports and fashion. He missed out on the part where he taught his daughters how they were supposed to be treated by a man, leading to them oftentimes settling for less than they deserved. My mother did a great job because we eventually learned, whether it was through listening to her or through our own experiences. My father never missed any important moments or milestones with his other family. He made sure he was there to raise my half brother into a man and teach my half sister to understand her worth. They did not have to struggle like we did to get that understanding. Going through years of poverty and emotional and mental stresses throughout our lives together has made my family extremely tight knit. My siblings know that we are all we have and all that my mom has, so we’ve completed our family in the midst of incompletion. It hasn’t quite been the same, as a piece of our puzzle has been missing since my brother has passed away. With my father being back this time around, it is like he is trying to make up for what we’ve lost. It is like he is trying to fit on a chess board as a checker piece; he just does not belong.